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One in six adults in sub-Saharan Africa will die in their prime of AIDS. It is a stunning cataclysm, plunging life expectancy to pre-modern levels and orphaning millions of children. Yet political trauma does not grip Africa. People living with AIDS are not rioting in the streets or overthrowing governments. In fact, democratic governance is spreading. Contrary to fearful predictions, the social fabric is not being ripped apart by bands of unsocialized orphan children.AIDS and Power explains why social and political life in Africa goes on in a remarkably normal way, and how political leaders have successfully managed the AIDS epidemic so as to overcome any threats to their power. Partly because of pervasive denial, AIDS is not a political priority for electorates, and therefore not for democratic leaders either. AIDS activists have not directly challenged the political order, instead using international networks to promote a rights-based approach to tackling the epidemic. African political systems have proven resilient in the face of AIDS's stresses, and rulers have learned to co-opt international AIDS efforts to their own political ends.In contrast with these successes, African governments and international agencies have a sorry record of tackling the epidemic itself. AIDS and Power concludes without political incentives for HIV prevention, this failure will persist.

Militant Islam is a powerful force in the Horn of Africa, and the U.S. war on terrorism has thrown the region and its politics into the international spotlight. Since the 1990s, when a failed U.S. military mission was called in to maintain order, Islamist organizations, with heavy sponsorship from Saudi Arabia, have multiplied and established much-needed health and education services in the region. However, despite the good that they are clearly providing, these organizations are labeled "terrorist" by the U.S. Islamist extremists have been found to be responsible for the deadly embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the attack on an Israeli jet in Mombasa. Since September 11, 2001, global effort has been concentrated on bringing these groups to their knees. Focusing on how Islamist movements have been viewed post-9/11 and how the U.S. agenda is being translated into local struggles in the region, this book is an important step toward understanding the complex dynamics that enfold the region.Contributors are Roland Marchal, A. H. Abdel Salam, M. A. Mohamed Salih, and Alex de Waal.

Describes the root causes, conflicts, and survival strategies surrounding the famine in Darfur, Sudan.

Product Description: Sudan’s civil war is 18 years old—but it must come to an end sometime. What challenges will the Sudanese state and civil society face as they try to reconstruct a ravaged and divided country? How will a post-war Sudan respond to the challenges of globalization as it tries to rehabilitate its economy, resettle its refugees, and rebuild its institutions? The essays in this book engages these important questions and others such as: · How is Sudan to achieve sustainable and equitable development, given its deep poverty, huge debt, decayed infrastructure, and extreme income inequalities? How can it use its oil revenues to promote social justice and not just enrich the few? · How is rural food security to be ensured? Should Sudan embark upon radical land reform? · How are the multiple armed groups in Sudan to be disarmed and demobilized, and how is a new national army to be built from the acrimony, fragmentation and proliferation of weaponry that exist today? · Should refugees and displaced people be seen as a burden or as an asset? How can they be made full citizens of a rebuilt Sudan? · How can women play a full and active role in peacemaking and promoting human rights in Sudan? · How can a new political system ensure political pluralism? How can it balance the demands of central government and the regions? · What should be the political role of Islam? How can a democratic government reconcile Islam and the rights of all Sudanese citizens? This book is the second in a series published by Justice Africa and the Committee of the Civil Project, representing the outcome of extensive research and consultation by a wide range of Sudanese scholars and activists...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: This book highlights a central, but neglected component of Africa’s complicated and intractable wars: the militarization of governance. Political cultures of militarism stand in the way of enduring peace, democracy, and the development of civil society...read more

Sometime in the coming months and years, Sudan will face a transition to peace and democracy. This will be a time of immense opportunity for the country: how will it respond to the enormous challenges of building a society based on equality, democracy and human rights? This book represents the efforts of Sudanese civil society organizations to come to terms with these challenges. Each chapter deals with a basic issue for the future of Sudan. Some of the issues addressed are inequality, militarism, free expression, religion, women, self-determination, and race. (view table of contents)

Famine Crimes is a factually rich, powerfully intelligent, morally important analysis of the persistence of famine in Africa. Using comparative studies from other parts of the world and a detailed knowledge of specific cases in Africa, de Waal lays the blame for Africa's problems with starvation on the political failings of African governments, western donors, and international relief agencies. The message of this important book is that no one need starve in Africa. (view table of contents)

Product Description: A study based on detailed field research during the terrible famine of 1984-85 in the Darfur region of Sudan. The author analyzes the famine from the perspective of the rural people who suffered it and in the process uncovers a number of new and important insights...read more